Last blog, we taught you how to gather all the right resources and prepare for the big and wonderful task of support raising. This blog, we are gonna dive in and get really practical in some fundraising strategies. Ready? Let’s do this.

The fundraising process can be broken up into 3 main steps, which we will cover here in this blog. By the end, you will have a complete map of how to get from having no supporters to having a community of people around you praying and giving towards what you are doing.

Here is, rather simply, the process of fundraising:

1. Reach Out (Call)
2. Appointment
3. Follow Up

Sounds easy right? It actually is easier than you think. Let’s dive in…

So, now that I have belabored the point of needing to call people, let me give a funny statement: sometimes calling people isn’t the most successful means of getting in touch with people. Maybe you have a grandmother that doesn’t have a cell phone but she checks her email everyday. Maybe you have a distant friend that you don’t have a phone number for but you are Facebook friends with. Well, our main goal here is to reach people (crazy, right?), so whatever means you think would be best, let’s do that! So with each of your names on your list, ask the question, “What will be the most effective method of getting in touch with them?” but please don’t mistake that question for the easier question of “What will be the most comfortable method of getting in touch with them?”

Well, what do you say once you do get in touch with people? Let’s say you called someone and the phone rings… rings… rings…. “Hello?” Uh oh, now what? What do you say?

Well, you mainly want to do 3 main things:

1. Introduce yourself (maybe they lost your number, or maybe it’s a friend of a friend)
2. Explain why you are calling them
3. Explain that you want to set up an appointment with them to talk more fully and invite them to join your support team

Couple notes here. Your main goal is not to give your presentation of your ministry, how much you are raising, etc, right here on the phone. People are often busy and don’t have the time to fully talk about those things, and it is also better to give them time to prepare for a conversation like that. So set up a time slot (30 min – 1 hour) where you can have a more in depth conversation with them about support raising. We will go over the appointment in the next section.

You also want to make sure you specifically say that you want to talk to them about joining your support team. Why? Well, money is a funny topic for most people, and it is always a honoring thing to mention that you want to discuss money and specifically ask for money when you have your appointment. This will keep people from getting offended by feeling blindsided by you suddenly asking about money.

If your contact is not in town, setting up either a phone call or a skype call works just as well! I generally shoot for a skype call if they are not close to me, since you have better communication by seeing them as opposed to just hearing them.

For more specific help, I have created a phone script that I will share in the “Resources” table at the bottom of this blog.

It is a good idea to show up early for the appointment to show them that you take this very seriously. This is especially the case if you are younger; you want present yourself professionally to show that they will be investing in someone who takes their ministry seriously.

You can prepare by bringing pictures with you of the ministry you will be doing, or maybe a report on what your organization has done over the last year. Having presentation items is helpful, though not necessary. They mainly want to connect with you and hear about why you are doing what you do.

So now that you have them sitting down and listening to you, you have the stage and can share your heart with them without feeling the pressure of time or inconvenience.

Well, now that you have their attention, what do you say? Here is a helpful road map of how to navigate the appointment…

1. Catch up!
   • You either are close with them and love talking with them, haven’t seen them in a while, or don’t know too much about them. Whatever the situation, take the time to get to know them better and how they are doing. This is such a good time to encourage people and speak life into them. Catch up with them and let them catch up with how you are doing as well!
2. The Transition
   • So obviously you aren’t just here to talk about how the wife and kids are, you do have an agenda. So after what you feel is an appropriate amount of time, steer the conversation towards support raising. I generally will ask a question like, “Well, do you mind if I jump in and talk about YWAM now?” They obviously know why you are sitting down together since you let them know on the phone what you wanted to talk with them about, so they will most likely be expecting this transition.
3. My Organization/My Story
   • The first thing to talk about with them is your organization. Doing ministry with YWAM? Talk about the legacy of YWAM and how long they have been around. Talk about the base you are a part of and the impact it is making around the world. This also would be a good time to share any important parts of how you were lead to this specific ministry to begin working with them. How did God lead you specifically towards doing what you will be doing?
4. Me
   • Talk about what you will be doing within the ministry. Leading a team of students overseas to Turkey? Training students in evangelism as they head to an unreached people group? Running the media department that reaches out to mobilize people towards ministry? Share with them what you will be doing and why you are excited to be doing what you will be doing!
5. Support Raising
   • They obviously know you are doing support raising, but it’s always helpful to give some context. I generally say something to the effect of “At YWAM they believe in the biblical concept of support raising and require that all their staff members raise their own support.” Even if you are raising money for just a one-off mission trip, you can still explain why you are support raising for that trip. This way they know some background of why you are support raising.
6. Your Budget
   • If you are going on a missions trip, your sending church or organization will have your trip cost laid out for you that you can present. But if you are more long term, you will also have your numbers from the support budget we set up last blog that you can present as well. During this time I generally say something to the effect of, “As I [insert what you will be doing here], I am looking to raise $3,000 in monthly support (or one-time if you are going on a trip) to cover my personal expenses as well as ministry expenses.” If you are raising monthly support AND one time donations, I would present both numbers.
7. The ASK
   • Ok, so this is maybe the most crucial part of the appointment section and it is important to get right. I mainly say this because it is very easy to either skip this portion entirely or do it half-way. Let’s be real, asking people for money is difficult. But once we are convinced that this is God’s plan and He is with us (remember from our biblical foundations blog?), this part becomes easier.
   • So when asking you need to make sure you do a couple things. First, ask them very directly for money. Don’t hint at it, don’t say “If you feel led to…”, just ASK! I generally say something like this, “I was wondering if you would consider joining my support team by giving $50 per month.”
   • You will notice I asked for a specific amount. I generally do this, though not every time. I think it is a helpful thing to do so that people can gauge what you are asking for exactly. I often will pray about a number ahead of time and come with something I feel God put on my heart.
8. Shut Up And Listen
   • As soon as you ask them to consider giving, ZIP YOUR LIP. It is so easy to take back the great direct ask you just did by feebly saying something like, “Well, that is, if you feel led to, or if you feel like it.” You are a good investment. God has called you, equipped you by His Spirit and grace, and you have momentum towards His vision. Giving towards you is definitely worthwhile. So act like it! Be confident. So when you ask, let it remain out there on the table as direct as possible. This will take courage, but is very important.
   • This will also give them time to let you know what they are thinking. They might already be ready to give. I have had people give on the spot before. But most importantly, this will give you a good gauge of what to do next with them. Are they able to give right now? Do they want to pray about it? Do they think they will probably be able to give in a month?
9. Prepare For Follow Up
   • Most likely the people you meet with will need some time to decide about what you are presenting to them. They need to talk with they wife, or look at their budget, or both! That is to be expected. So always, always, always, make a plan coming out of your meeting with them so that you can follow up well with them. If they haven’t flat out said no, ask them if you can give them another call in a week to check back in and see if they have made a decision. I cannot tell you how many people I have seen falter here. They do an amazing job sharing and asking, but then just expect that person to follow up with them instead of the other way around. In support raising, a good rule of thumb is to try and always keep the ball in court when it comes to make communication happen.

However, if you are reading this blog and have decided that you wanted to skip past the “unnecessary biblical & theological fluff” blogs because you just want to learn proven strategies to get you where you want to be financially, let me stop you right there. The bottom line of support raising is that whether God uses these proven, thought-out strategies discussed in these blogs, or whether He drops the money out of the sky (it happens more often than you would think folks), the point is that HE does it. HE is your Provider and the one who wants to reveal Himself to you in profound ways through this journey. So please, please, please don’t skip the part where you are connecting with His word and His heart for you amidst this sometimes challenging process. So, if you haven’t checked out our past blogs, please take a look here. It will be well worth it. Whether you have been doing this for 20 years, or whether this is your first time, we all constantly need reminders to turn our hearts to the goodness, nature and truth of God as a source of strength and guidance.

Moving forward, this blog will be covering the practical “How To’s” of support raising and will be a part one blog of a two part series on how to practically raise support for ministry. In this blog, we will be looking at how to gather the tools and resources that will set you up for success, as well as what your initial steps should look like. Let’s get started!

Now this section is intended towards people who are joining ministry or missions for longer than just a trip or school (DTS, SBS, etc) who are building a support team for the long haul. However, for those are doing something like a missions trip and already have a budget given to them by the organization they are doing ministry through, don’t skip past this! We are hitting on some key issues that will give you important perspectives about this process.

But really, what is praying your budget? Well, this is something I am personally very excited about because I believe it goes against the grain with some expectations put on the missionary community as a whole. So let’s begin by addressing a common expectation I have found that many people hold as they approach missions and ministry: to follow the call of God in ministry, you must be poor.I know that might sound funny to say out loud, but when you think about it, there is definitely this common expectation the church puts on the world of ministry and missions.

Now, contrast that with what we just learned from our last blog, specifically Numbers 18:12-13, “I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain they give the Lord as the firstfruits of their harvest. All the land’s firstfruits that they bring to the Lord will be yours.” Hmm… I see here in scripture God specifically setting aside the best of all the land for the Levites (those He called to specific ministry).

It honestly is really sad to me that somehow a lie has crept into the missions community that God will only provide the bare bones (if at all) for those that He has called into specific realms of ministry. I have a personal vendetta to defy this lie as much as possible as I think about support raising, both for myself, and for other people.

So what does all of this have to do with a budget? Great question. Building a budget for yourself (which is what we are talking about here), is where I believe this mentality comes out the strongest in the support raising process. So I like to go for the jugular with this lie early on, and partner with God to believe His truth instead of a sad cultural lie when it comes to my support raising journey. How is that accomplished? Build a budget that will set you up to thrive, not get by.

Ok, so that sounds nice, but what does that look like exactly? This is where I love to include the prayer part. When I establish a budget early on in support raising, I usually do two things: research and pray. I look at my job, look at what a fair market value is for my job, for people at my age, doing what I am doing, etc. I then will go to God and ask His opinion on it. I know that He has already spoken through His word about what His heart is for me in this realm of His Kingdom, but I love to listen to His voice and hear directly from Him about what He thinks about my budget. Doing these two things helps me, in wisdom and revelation (Eph 1:17), feel confident about my budget before God. If I feel confident about my budget before God, I know that I can go boldly out to pursue my budget before man as well, because I know I have God’s wind in my sails with this particular budget.

New to a setting up a budget? No problem! The basic components of a budget are:

1. Decide What Your Salary Should Be – This is generally best done by talking to God, doing research, and checking in with your organization (as mentioned above).
2. Break It Down Monthly – With most of your supporters signing up on a monthly basis, it’s good to know what your total support raising goal will be on a monthly basis as opposed to just an annual amount.
3. Consider Ministry Expenses – You will most likely be needing to build in ministry expenses for doing your job. Working with college students you’ll be taking out to lunch or coffee? Going on mission trips regularly that you could be saving for? Need equipment for your job? Use your personal cell phone for the work that you do? Build all these in! You could even talk to your organization about including things most companies offer like health benefits or retirement planning.
4. Build In The 3% – Every financial transaction you will receive, whether through your organization or through a 3rd party website, will be reduced by 3% which is referred to as a “processing fee”. This is just par for the course, but since that is part of the job, build it into your budget so it doesn’t affect your take home budget! Remember people, God gave the first and the best. He doesn’t short change us.
5. Expect Fluctuation And Plan For It – Most financial guru’s will tell you that it is a good idea to build a buffer for your budget, but  it’s especially important to include with support raising. Support Teams can often times fluctuate with some people on your support team either forgetting to donate one month, or maybe even contacting you because they can’t keep giving towards you anymore!

Building a budget can be very helpful and even empowering as you launch into your support raising journey. It is very clarifying for you, for one, so you know what you are shooting for. It helps so that when you talk to potential supporters, you can present a tangible number that you are looking to raise. It also setups up a “work till you get there” mentality, which is more valuable than you might foresee now. In support raising it can easy to just settle with the idea, “well, I have enough to get by at this point, so maybe I’ll just stop here”. When you set up a budget and begin announcing it (to yourself and others), it forces you to stick to it and see it through till the end, and can help you not settle till you, by the grace of God, reach HIS plan for you and your budget.

Namestorming is basically the process of sitting down to brainstorm a list of names of people, churches, and organizations that you will pursue in prayer as you raise support for your missions trip, school fees, or as you build a support team for more long-term ministry work. I generally set a number of names for myself as a goal, and work until I hit that number. If you are raising support for a trip or school, I would generally try and stick to the rule of 40 names per $1000. Raising $2,000? Make a list of 80 people. For people building a support team of monthly givers, I would try and make a list of 200 – 300 people who you can talk with. When you create the list, make sure to get their name, phone number and email, if you can.

While that might sound like a lot of people, I generally find that most people on their facebook profiles alone have close to, if not over, 1,000 people who are their friends on facebook. So, if you are only needing anywhere from 40-300 names out of 1,000, you really are looking for a small number compared to how many people you actually have a connection to. Also, generally churches are your “facebook friends” and often can be a big source of support for you as well. So don’t sweat it, you can do this.

Now the most common misconception people have with this step is they limit their list to people they feel comfortable talking with about support raising, generally very close friends or family. The best thing to understand here is that you get to practice stepping out of your comfort zone as you make this list, and instead of thinking, “Man, it would be so awkward reaching out to that old acquaintance of mine”, think, “Man, I wonder what God could do as I connect with this person I don’t know very well, or have lost connection to”. We need to remember here, that we aren’t building a plan off of what WE can do with our resources and connections, but what GOD can do by His sovereign grace and power.

Now that you have your budget and list of names, you are almost ready to pick up the phone and begin reaching out to people (more on this in the next blog). However, there a couple final resources you need before you can begin talking with people. While they aren’t very complex, practically speaking, they are still necessary to get into place before you begin pursuing your list.

Here are the resources needed:

1. Online Giving Page – Often times your organization will have a place for people to give towards you, with either a one-time donation, or with a monthly, recurring gift. Those of you building an ongoing support team, though, I would very strongly emphasize your need for an online giving page that receives automatically withdrawn monthly payments. With people forgetting to send in payments, or even losing the directions of how to give regularly, it is VERY important that you have a system set up that makes it easier for them to set up a monthly payment that they don’t have to mess with after the initial setup. If your organization does not offer this, you can find other resources online to create custom online donation pages for yourself. Check the resource table below for a link to GivingFuel, a 3rd party site that I use. 

2. Donor Management System – When you have a list of 100 – 300 names, how are you going to remember where you are in the process of reaching out to each of them? In order to make sure that you set yourself up for success, and don’t let things fall through the cracks with the people you are pursuing, you need a system to keep tabs on each person you are communicating with. While some people use a spreadsheet system, some staff members at Campus Crusade (CRU), made a program a couple years ago that I believe does an excellent job of keeping everything organized and systematized. It’s called TntMPD and I would highly recommend it to those building a support team for the long haul, and the best part is that it is free! You can download it as well as see tutorials on it through the resource table below.

3. Support Team Tracking – This resource is specifically geared towards those building for the long term, and is pretty vital for your continued success. I personally have a google spreadsheet that you I track my team on. I list their names, monthly giving amounts, day of the month they give on, and whether they are current in their giving or if they missed last month. All of this information is very vital for me as I keep tabs on my team for prayer, keeping track of who I need to contact because they missed a donation, etc. It also can be a good way for me to see how close to my monthly total I am with all of my monthly givers as I raise support. I created a template that you can download through the resource table below, if you want to copy the spreadsheet I use.

4. Support Budget Spreadsheet – I already covered this earlier on in the blog, but I also created a copy of my Google spreadsheet that you can use for yourself if you would like. Once more, check out the resource table below to download.

Alright! Those are all the things you need in place in order to begin the support raising journey. Next blog, we will cover the process of reaching out to people and tangibly raising support for your ministry!

May the God of all creation grant you peace, faith, and His empowering presence as you take another step towards following His call on your life.

The number one thing to understand before you begin fundraising is that you have the largest support system already on your side. As you sacrificed what you knew to be your everyday norm to follow a word of the Lord to go on a crazy adventure with Jesus, you will find that He is faithful. You are not alone in wondering where to start or how to approach the large sum of money staring at you on your computer screen. Coming from a staff member with YWAM, I still get nervous asking and approaching people. It is part of the process in being stretched in the boldness that the Lord slowly builds inside of us. Hopefully this blog series assists you in understanding how important, rewarding, and biblical support raising is.  

The majority of the assumption today is that those in missions are to be living off of bread crumbs, but actually, you reap what you sow. Being in missions, you will soon realize it is a lot of hard work because you’ve answered the call to be a Levite. You responded to be a leader in the spiritual war.

Because the Levites dedicated everything to God, He provided for more than what they needed. He blessed them greatly, knowing their faithfulness and thankfulness. We are Levites. We have laid down everything to follow Jesus, and to think that the Lord won’t come through ten-fold is foolishness. If our Father feeds the birds of the air, how much more precious are we that are winning souls for the kingdom? Remember this when you start to believe that Jesus won’t pull through because He already has.  

Within this process, whether they realize it or not, God is already providing. We serve a God of strategy and wisdom. We serve a Creator that loves the lightbulb moments that we have realizing His goodness and His plan that has been in the works all along.

Through, what feels like struggle and a huge leap of faith, He has already been giving you the proper shoes to be able to break your fall as you jump into the water. If you are signing up for DTS and felt a calling to go, chances are you already have what it takes to make this vision become reality. So as you follow with us through this blog series, be encouraged knowing and firmly believing that this is your story of breakthrough the Lord is taking you through. With perseverance and faith, fighting for His promise, He will always do His part.